Sikh group asks Indian PM to take up safety issues of the community abroad after string of hate crimes

A north Indian committee has urged the Indian government to take up the matter of hate crimes against Sikhs in the United States and New Zealand in the wake of recent attacks.

Chandigarh-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has approached Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue of safety of Sikhs with the U.S. and New Zealand governments, reported IANS. According to SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, they have demanded the culprits behind the alleged hate crimes be brought before law.

In a similar development, U.S.-based civil rights group The Sikh Coalition appealed to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to address the issue of discrimination against Sikh minority community, reported the Press Trust of India.

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Construction has begun on Sikh temple in Westborough

Vantage Builders Inc. said Wednesday that construction has begun on a 21,000-square-foot Sikh temple in Westborough.

The new temple will be called Gurduara Sahib, and it will become the principal place of worship for the New England Sikh community, Waltham-based Vantage Builders said. The temple is for the New England Sikh Study Circle, which was established in 1968 to serve as a Sikh center for spiritual growth, political understanding, community activism, and social gathering.

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Another Sikh, his mother attacked in New York

Just days after a Sikh man was hit and dragged by a truck, another Sikh man and his mother were attacked here by a group of teenagers who called them 'Osama Bin Laden' in an apparent hate crime, sparking fresh outrage among the community members. 

The Sikh man, a physician scientist, said in a statement that he and his mother were attacked in a Queens neighbourhood on the night of August 7. 

He said that in accordance with Sikh religious beliefs, both he and his mother wear turbans and maintain uncut hair. 

They were confronted by about 10 teenagers who called them "Osama bin Laden and told us to go back to your country." 

The teenagers also used derogatory language against the man's mother and made fun of her facial hair. 

The Sikh man told them to stop, but the teenagers surrounded him and punched him in the face and neck. They also tried to throw a bottle at the Sikh man and then fled. 

The man, who chose to remain anonymous, said he tried to pursue them but could not as he was in a lot of pain. He then called the police and was treated at a hospital. 

"I want the New York Police Department to investigate this attack as a hate crime and arrest the people who attacked me before they hurt someone else. I want witnesses to come forward and contact the police immediately," the man said, adding that his mother was visiting him from India. 

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Alleged hate crime in New York City leaves Sikh father critically injured

A New York City Sikh father of two is seriously injured and recovering in hospital after a pick-up truck ran him over in an alleged hate crime last week, according to a release from the Sikh Coalition.

The Sikh activist group organized a rally on Tuesday, calling on law enforcement to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

According to the Huffington Post, the 29-year-old father, Sandeep Singh, was walking home with a friend in Queens when a man in a pick-up truck began shouting racial slurs at them.

Amardeep Singh, with the Sikh Coalition, told HuffPost the driver called the men “terrorists” and told them to “go back to your country.”

Singh then attempted to engage the driver in conversation by saying “I am not a terrorist,” while standing in front of the truck as he called police, HuffPost reported.

But as Singh began to dial, the truck lurched forward and struck Singh.

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Anti-immigration flyer targeting Sikhs surfaces in Brampton

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HSGMC issue : Hindustan Times

Control of gurdwaras in Haryana: SC orders for status quo

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the SGPC and newly formed Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) to maintain status quo on the management control of gurdwaras prevailing at 2:30pm on Thursday in Haryana till further orders. 

During the hearing, the Haryana government informed the SC that the new state committee has forcibly taken control of Sikh gurdwaras in the state. 

The SC asked Haryana DGP and district administration to maintain status quo with regard to gurdwaras and not permit any violence. 

The next hearing in the case would take place on August 25. 

With thanks : Times of India : LINK : for detailed news.

Sikhs targeted in Pakistan : Times Now :

Protests erupted in Pakistan's Peshawar city after unidentified gunmen opened fire in a market area killing a Sikh businessman and injuring several others. Infuriated Sikhs took to the streets protesting against targeted killings of people from the Sikh community.

LINK to view the Video

HSGPC continues siege of Kurukshetra gurdwara

IANS  |  Chandigarh   August 3, 2014 

Members of the newly-constituted Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) Sunday continued their siege of Kurukshetra's Gurdwara Chatti Patshahi on the second day of their bid to take over the Sikh shrine.

Even though there were not many people from the HSGPC side till afternoon, tension built up after 3 p.m. as some protestors tried to breach the police barrier near the gurdwara. However, police prevented them from proceeding ahead.

Heavy police deployment was seen near the gurdwara Sunday. Leaders of the HSGPC and their supporters had Saturday laid siege just 100 feet from the gurdwara, one of the state's biggest, in Kurukshetra, about 110 km from here. Those trying to take control of the shrine breached two police barriers Saturday along the route.

Members of the task force and other volunteers of the Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which still controls Sikh shrines in Haryana, were inside the shrine premises, ready to resist any attempt for a forcible take over. Many people from both sides were carrying traditional weapons like swords, spears and sticks.

A high-level delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal, comprising SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, Akali Dal general secretary and former union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and others met Haryana's new Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki at Haryana Raj Bhawan here Sunday and demanded immediate review of the Act passed by the Haryana Assembly allowing the creation of the HSGPC.

The delegation told the governor that by enacting this measure unconstitutionally, the Haryana assembly had violated the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925. They urged the governor to direct the Haryana government to stop the "illegal" HSGPC from forcible takeover of Haryana's Sikh shrines.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said Sunday that the forcible takeover of Haryana gurdwaras would not be allowed at any cost.

The HSPGC had Friday asked the SGPC to hand over records of the Haryana gurdwaras to it, but the latter categorically refused to do so.

Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the SGPC are locked in a bitter controversy with Haryana's Bhupinder Singh Hooda government over the creation of the HSGPC.

On June 11, the Haryana assembly had passed a bill under which a new committee would be set up to manage gurdwaras in the state. The Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras (Management) Bill, 2014, got the assent of the state governor June 14.

The SGPC, the mini-parliament of Sikh religious affairs, which controls gurdwaras across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, will lose control over gurdwaras in Haryana with the new law.

The SGPC, which has a Rs.950 crore annual budget, controls majority of the gurdwaras in Punjab, including the holiest of all Sikh shrines 'Harmandar Sahib' (popularly known as Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

with thanks : Business Standard : LINK

The 'Flying Sikh' who won India's first Commonwealth gold

When Milkha Singh took to the track at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff most people had never heard of him. But he was to make history there and is now hailed as one of India's greatest athletes.

It was the night before the 440 yards final at the British Empire and Commonwealth games in Cardiff and Milkha Singh was having trouble sleeping.

"When a person makes it to the final he is under so much stress that he is unable to sleep," recalls Singh. "It was a very difficult night."

Singh had won two gold medals at the Asian Games in Tokyo just a month before, but the Commonwealth Games were different.

with thanks : BBC News : LINK : for detailed news.

Saharanpur violence: Sikh delegation demands judicial probe

A Sikh delegation, led by Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay, today met Union Minister Jitendra Singh and demanded a judicial probe in recent violent clash between two groups in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur. 

The delegation handed over a memorandum to Singh, Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office. 

It is important that the central government take up the matter and examine possibilities of making the Government of Uttar Pradesh to order a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge into the riots at Saharanpur on July 26, said the memorandum. 

Jitendra Singh gave them a patient hearing and assured them that Government stands for communal harmony and disapproves of the violence against any community. 

With thanks : Business Standard : LINK : for detailed news.